


original chapter and note for NSIAS

by taeminnied



Category: SHINee, 방탄소년단 | Bangtan Boys | BTS
Genre: Hitmen, M/M, Mentions of drugs and alcohol, Violence, lots of weed so much weed
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-02-08
Updated: 2017-05-31
Packaged: 2018-09-22 20:46:59
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,052
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9624740
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/taeminnied/pseuds/taeminnied
Summary: hello i restarted this fic pls go read it there thank uhttps://archiveofourown.org/works/14551707/chapters/33623652





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> dedicated to thighdxddy; my beta, plot developer, and source of jimtae thirst

The apartment smelled of bleach and weed. Bleach, because of the pungent contents of his hair dye bowl; and weed from the smoke pluming out his mouth around the joint between his lips. It was renewal night, where Taemin would shed the skin of his latest persona and alter himself to fit the new one. This character was supposed to be blonde and timid; the sort of person law enforcements turn a blind eye to when it comes to murder cases. One habit he never abandoned between these shifts, however, was smoking. He had a nervous tick that shook his hands under pressure, and the mellowed out effects of medicinal marijuana never failed to loosen both his gait and his nerves. It was, in this case, just what he needed to numb the sting of acid burn on his scalp from the bleach mixture sitting in his hair. 

His fingers faltered when his phone buzzed obnoxiously on the toilet seat, forcing him to tear a dye-covered glove off and flick the device open next to his ear. The only person who Taemin had given such an unsavory ringtone to was Kibum; and when Kibum called, he didn’t dare ignore. 

“Fucking finally, Bummie. Is my payment ready yet?,” he griped into the receiver, wrinkling his nose at the grime under his fingernails. Taemin had finished his last job almost a week ago and had been lying low to avoid suspicion as usual, but usually Kibum would have called him sooner. 

“Watch your mouth. Beggars can’t be choosers, baby, you should know that by now. I was busy with business and Byun was taking forever to get his shit together. Good job staying off the scene, though. We thought you fucking died.” He scoffed, a whiny retort already building on his tongue. Kibum was technically his boss, but Taemin had lost all respect for formalities after three years of knowing the older man. 

“Do you have that little faith in my skills, Bum? And just ‘cause you were busy doesn’t mean you couldn’t call,” he complained, practicing his pout in the mirror while putting out the half-finished blunt against the porcelain of the sink. A sweet haze had already sunken into his bones and eased the tremors rattling his fingers and his nerves. 

“Don’t even try to whine, Minnie,” he knew Taemin too well, “it makes you seem even more childish than you already are. Anyways, I called to tell you that your payment and I are waiting for you at the usual spot, and I’d advise you hurry your sweet little self down here before your money and I get bored and leave. That Byun bastard paid you a pretty penny and you know how much I love keeping pretty things to myself. Au revoir, sweetheart.” 

At that, Kibum cut the line and left Taemin to stumble under the showerhead to wash out the bleach that had, thankfully, been sitting in his hair for almost the entire process time before Kibum had called. The man was incredibly impatient and did indeed have an infatuation with pretty things, so Taemin knew not to take his friend’s words lightly. At least Byun was making up for his lateness with a hefty prize for his efforts. 

With a towel slung around his narrow hips, Taemin waltzed into his attached bedroom to pick over the contents of his too-big closet. The usual meeting spot meant Indigo, and at the ripe time of 11:03 PM, the club would be in full swing. Kibum expected nothing but the best in terms of dress for his patrons; and although Taemin was a bit more than just that, he was not an exclusion of the owner’s rules. He ran his fingers over the expensive wares, pausing to paw at a new pair of black skinnies Kibum had given him not too long ago. Deciding his friend would appreciate seeing them on Taemin, he pulled them off the shelf and tugged them on. Luckily, the man loved to spoil Taemin with designer labels of only the highest quality, so he never found himself scrounging the depths of his closet for Kibum-approved clothing. Despite Kibum’s taste for suits, he allowed Taemin to dabble in a much different style of dress. Tighter, darker, and usually a bit skimpier. He had a love affair with leather and mesh and holes and rips. 

Taemin admired the fit in the floor-length mirror while fastening the button at the top. Kibum always mused that these expensive clothes were made for Taemin, all lean and long legs. The jeans were like a second skin, just like he liked. Since Kibum would be too distracted by both his blonde locks and new pants, Taemin decided that he could get away with one of his old holey black tees just this once. He would be especially forgiving if Taemin wore the red velvet creepers and stupid black band around his neck that had been given to him in reward for his last job, too. 

Before shoving his phone, keys, and card in his pockets, Taemin made sure to rim his eyes with a nearly-finished stick of kohl like Jonghyun had taught him. Kibum’s flame was always giving him little tips on how to make himself prettier for the club. The eyeliner, the way he let his hair always stay a little unkempt, how he now favored leaving little to the imagination in terms of dress. It wasn’t how Taemin used to be, but he didn’t really mind that it was what he’d become. He’d adapted to this lifestyle, and he certainly wasn’t opposed to the fact that it had unleashed a darker side of himself. Taemin was a rich little bitch now, and the blood on his hands and the smudges around his eyes had become nothing but thoughtless accessories to the wealth. 

The walk down to the club was brief, as Kibum thought that buying Taemin an apartment within five minutes of the place was of utmost necessity. It was, after all, a common meeting place for his clients and with Kibum himself. The bouncer let him in without a word, much to the chagrin of the long queue of people behind the red rope. Indigo was popular and exorbitant, which made it the most frequented playground in the city for the filthy rich. Kibum made sure, though, that all of his clubs were decadently intimate. Most of the people desperately waiting outside would never even have a chance of entering unless they made exquisite connections or made habit of high-paying illicit activities, but that would never happen. Commoners were no good at crime, that much Taemin knew for sure. 

Once inside, Taemin could feel awed gazes on him as patrons noticed him treading through the marble entryway into the deep seductiveness of the club itself. It was spacious and lofty, with over two more floors of balconied space overlooking the central dancefloor. The edges of the place housed plush couches and booths, all tucked away from the smoky lights of the middle areas and shrouded in delicious darkness. He liked those places best, where nobody could stare at him like he was some glistening trophy on the club owner’s shelf. Kibum, however, who preferred sitting in the public eye, was perched on a swiveling leather stool at the bar, knocking back a B-52 and scanning the crowd lazily. It didn’t take him too long to spot Taemin, though, and as soon as he did, his eyes grew wide in ire. 

“Hey, Boss, tell Minho to fix up some more of those,” he drawled, hopping onto the seat next to Kibum and plastering on his best pout. “I haven’t had any alcohol in my system since my last job and I’m dying.” Minho heard this and got to work pouring coffee liqueur into the bottoms of four new shot glasses. 

“Minnie, baby, what the fuck did you do to your hair?” Shit. “Is that why it took you so long to get here?” Kibum grabbed his shoulders and looked him over in panic. “Idiot, I told you to wait until I could get you in at the salon! What the hell, babe?” Now Kibum was the one pouting, and all Taemin could do was smile at his antics. He shook himself out of Kibum’s grip and lifted one of the fresh shots lain out by Minho to his mouth. 

“Leave me alone, I got impatient when you left me hanging.” Taemin ran a hand through his rough locks and downed the layered concoction. “It doesn’t even look bad.”

“Yeah Kibum, Taem did a good job this time,” Minho chuckled from behind the counter. 

Kibum glared at both of them in vexation, but obviously couldn’t deny that fact. 

“Fine. I’ll let it go since you’re wearing my gifts,” he praised. Taemin smirked to himself; pleased that his distraction tactics had worked. With a huff, Kibum pulled a fat white envelope from the confines of his silken shirt and presented it to Taemin. He whistled to himself as he slit open the top with his nail; Byun had tipped him quite generously this time around. Kibum’s naturally composed expression faltered at the sight of the cash, shock obvious in the slight drop of his jaw. He had said to expect a pretty penny, but it was obvious to Taemin that his friend hadn’t been aware that those pennies were actually more like gold coins. 

“Damn, Bum, who exactly was that guy I snuffed? I’ve never gotten this much before,” Taemin mused, not even bothering to count the enormous stack of hundreds in the envelope once he read the sticky note on the top bill. “A hundred grand? Fuck, the bastard didn’t seem that important while I was tracking him.” Minho gaped at his remark, nearly dropping the tumbler he was drying off as his brows disappeared under his dark bangs. 

Kibum hummed, “Mm I think he was some sort of CEO? Big oil company probably, based on what Byun told me. Apparently he scammed a bunch of idiots into loaning him billions, Byun being one of those idiots.” 

Taemin shrugged, still not understanding why that called for receiving such a large payment. It was money either way, though, and he wasn’t about to question it. Besides, it hadn’t been him who had killed the target; the murderer was the amber-haired, dark eyed man staring back at him in his bathroom mirror a few hours ago. Taemin had shed the skin of that man already. His remains had slid down his body and vanished down the drain along with the bleach, and his brown eyes had been replaced by Taemin’s new deep grey contacts. That man had died with his hundred grand target. Reinventing himself physically had always made it easier for him to deal with what he did, because although his insides always stayed the same, Taemin never had to look twice at the destructive shells of himself that he always left behind. Slipping the envelope in his waistband under his shirt, he blew an exaggerated kiss in Kibum’s direction and stood up. 

“It doesn’t matter now, does it? I’m gonna go dance, thanks for the shots, Min.” 

“Awe, my baby is so ruthless,” Kibum teased. “Jonghyun would be simply devastated if he heard me say that, wouldn’t he?” He sighed, Kibum’s boyfriend had never approved of Taemin’s preferred method of money-making. 

“Where is he, by the way?” Taemin tilted his head in question. “I was hoping my usual partner would be around to dance with.” Kibum squinted into the crowd, searching for Jonghyun’s soft pink head of hair. 

“Hm, I don’t see him. He detached himself from me a while ago to go dance, but maybe he’s gone out back for a smoke,” Kibum offered. “Mn, I think I’ll actually go check. I miss my little munchkin.” 

Taemin rolled his eyes and leaned against the counter as Kibum sauntered off, not even having to shove through the throngs of people once they parted for him like the Red Sea. Patrons were so nervous around Kibum, like he was a cat-eyed rendition of God himself. It didn’t really help that he hardly ever showed up at any of his clubs, so he was almost regarded as a myth. Taemin thought he probably revelled in his shady reputation though. Kibum loved playing out the whole mysterious thing. 

“They make me want to vomit sometimes,” Minho muttered, shaking Taemin from his thoughts. Kibum and his boyfriend were disgustingly affectionate, always cooing over each other and paying no mind to the public eye when it came to their affections. Taemin never understood how Jonghyun had managed to melt Kibum’s ice, but he supposed that it was good for him to not constantly have a work-induced stick up his ass. Jonghyun relaxed him to no end, which made life easier for everyone involved in Kibum’s business. 

“God, I know,” he replied, laying his torso over the marble counter of the bar. He propped his chin in his hand, all desire to go to the floor diminished once Minho slid him a White Russian. He and Kibum had a penchant for Kahlúa, obviously, and Minho was well aware of the fact. “I’m just waitin’ for them to get arrested for PDA one of these days,” he grumbled while thumbing the rim of his glass. “I bet Bummie just wanted to go find him so he could get his daily public ass grope in, fuckin’ exhibitionists.” Minho laughed at that, rustling Taemin’s bleached strands further into chaos. 

“Don’t let Kibum hear you talking like that, you know he’d beat your ass in a heartbeat.” There was no real threat behind Minho’s words, though, because they both knew that Kibum was one hundred percent whipped for Taemin. The man treated him like a twisted Prince of his empire; Taemin’s gruesome career never detracting from his position in the ranks, no matter how high the body count got. The only person with a greater importance to Kibum than himself was the Queen: Jonghyun. Minho was perhaps a rank lower than Taemin, but there they all sat at the very top of Kibum’s tower of wealth. And like a family of cards in poker, they always showed the winning suit.


	2. NOT AN UPDATE i am so sorry

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> please forgive me hgskghdgs

hi :D so uh when i uploaded the first chapter of this fic, it was a bit spontaneous, and i had not yet really formed a proper plan for how the rest of the story would continue. in my head, i just sort of thought that i would push aside my tendency to plan so thoroughly and just come up with the plot as i went. however, i am not the kind of person who can do this, apparently. since i posted the first chapter in february, i have been trying to figure out the direction in which i wanted to take this. a few weeks ago, after four different extensive drafts, i finally nailed down a solid plan that i was satisfied with (yay). as i started writing it, though, i spent some time going back to read the first chapter again to make sure everything i was writing was in line and made sense. weLL when i did this, i realized how much i hate the first chapter, and how self-indulgent it truly was. it was written on a whim without much editing, so it turned out very uhm ick, in my opinion. therefore, i would like to rework the first chapter in a way that fits the official plot and that i am satisfied with. because this fic has been public for almost five months now, i have decided that i do not want to post the reworked chapter and the continuing chapters as a new body of work, so i will be replacing the existing first chapter with the new one as soon as i finish writing it. to avoid confusion, though, i will be sure to include a new author's note that shows when the chapter has been replaced, and i will add a short explanation for what happened just in case new readers are confused. i will most likely be uploading the original first chapter as a separate body of a work with a different title, and link it in this one just in case anyone is curious about it. not to worry, though, this reworked version will follow basically every event that happens in the original draft, however, it will be longer and jimin will show up in it. certain names and details will be changed (the byun situation, for example, as well as certain minor aspects of the meeting at the club) and the extremely long, detailed portion of taemin getting ready will also be cut short because wtf was i doing this fic is not meant to be a "what are the minute details of taemin's appearance today" kind of deal; i want to spend more time on plot than things like this. overall, i promise the tags are going to apply in the exact same way as planned, and really this reworked chapter should serve solely as an upgrade and not a completely new collection of ideas. i am so sorry for this inconvenience that i am causing for the people who have already read the original draft, but i hope you like the new one even better! as i said before, i will make it very apparent that the update has been made, and i will be sure to post the original chapter as well as this note as a new work for those of you who read the original work before i changed it. i hope everyone understands and respects my decisions concerning this situation, because i really do just want to be content with the work that i produce, and as the first chapter is now, i am not. (also, thank you so much to everyone who gave kudos and comments, you have no idea how much i appreciate them, especially since i am quite the inexperienced amateur when it comes to writing.) 

thank you, - taeminnied (sigh i am also sad that it is too late to change my pseud now that i have published this, because i kind of want to change it now oh well)

**Author's Note:**

> hi hello this is my first attempt at writing a fic, so it's proly a little rusty, but please comment with opinions! i'm sorry jimin didn't appear in this chapter but i promise he'll be in chapter two, which should be up soon if this first one goes well. also, this first chapter is extreMely short only because i wanted to just kind of test the waters, but the following ones will be much longer. ahHhhh thanks for reading! (side note how tf do i format my text i want more spacing and stuff)


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